St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-01-22
TOILERS OF THE SEA.
Divers Work Upon the Cargo of
the Steam. ship Oregon.
no" +" N Toll at Twenty Fathoms Depth
I'D Are Sometimes Paralyzed-The
Cossiition of the Bsdly-Shat-
tered Vossel-lts CarEOss
Condition.

On the 18th of March. 1886, some-
thing poked hole in the bottom of the
steamship Oregon. land she sank to
the bottom of the sea" about eighteen
miles away from Fire Island Inlet, in
water l20 feet deep. on hard surface
of coarse sand and gravel. The oc-
currence is SO recent that most persons
will remember what ap excitement was
occasioned by. it. No lives were lost,
but the survivors made the armament
echo with remarks about their trunks.
merchants here and abroad joined in
lamentations over the cargo; the vast
army of foreign noblemcn on this side
of the water, expecting remittances.
with singular unanimity bewailed the
loss of large sums. and got renewed
credit for weeks on the strength of
their misfortune; and the person who
had not at least lost an important let
ter in the mails that went down with
the Oregon was quite out of fashion.
Then speculation ran riot ~ to the
cause of the disaster. Witnesses Of
the highest credibility were certain that
no vessel was any where in sight of the
Oregon when she received the shock
that sent her to the bottom. Other
witnesses Of equally unquestiOnable We
racity saw vessels enough to have made a
fine naval parade. There were those
who were certain that she was sunk BY
an explosion in her hold. and others
who deemed it beyond question that a
submarine vessel. possibly an Irish
torpedo-boat. had given her the fatal
thrust. The excitement increased un-
til. after much Delay. the wreckers
established the facts that she had Leen
sunk bv a collision with some unknown
vessel, and that it would be practicable
to save . great deal of her cargo.
Then. suddenly, the popular interest in
her died awav, and though the divers
more was heard of their progress. and
seemingly little was cared about 1t,
even by the remittancc-expecting noble
men, who had meanwhile made other
arrangements.
MIR. /. J. NJ. Merritt, Jr.. son of
Captain Merritt, of the Coast Wrecking
Company, by whom the salvage was
effected, narrating the story OF the
divers work on the Oregon the other
1--WE keep the fires banked in our
wrecking steamers the year around.
ready to start any time, at moments 6
notice, for any point on the coast where
our services may he required. So when
news of the wreck of the Oregon was
received, and we we're called upon. as
we were Immediately, We were of to
her on the same day to examine how
she Law. take soundingS. and pick up
what floating cargo and mail we could.
DIN March the 18th We started out to
60 10 work. but the weather was such
that we could not do any thing until
the 29th, when we began.
1.-The Oregon lay in twenty iathoms
Of water. There is . popular idea that
the agitation of the sea by storms is
quite shallow effect But it doesn,t I
take much of storm to make itself
felt sixty feet down. where the Oregon
Law. as our divers were fully SATISFIED.
and though it was possible to see dlmiy
outside the hull. the darkness IN the
hold was perfect. SO that the dif'cul,
t;eS under which the divers worked
r,sre great Nevertheless. it did not
take them long to find out that the
Oreyon was very badly shattered vcs-
seI When she dived to the bottom
she careened over to the side on which
She had received her injury, and drove
her noae down % deep in the sand that
- w,s held there, while the power OF
the waves broke her in two close to
No. hatch, which was the largest ana
-,,os, ;unortant in the vessel, ana
.I.mmed her down with such force
thai her bottom came up and her decks
settled down SO that her cargo WAS
sw.Sbed between. Where she was
hroLan in two she had been literally
twisted of. and though the recovery OF
goods from the great hatch at that
Soint should have been the most I'M
rortant it was, in fact, where least was
f,ved. the magnitude of the opening
having permittei vast quantities OF
c,rgo to float out. rise to the surface
and drift away. The first OF the foat-
inc cargo that was picked up was fr0m
that opening. and had drlfted miles
away. - th, O--
.con was one of the greatest pieces OF
ScrL of the kind ever performed: not
',,ch on account of the depth OF the
-.ter IS because Of the locality ana tns